Nairobi Inches Closer to Turning Solid Waste into Energy Through a 10MW Incinerator Plant

The government of Kenya has gazetted the Impact assessment for a 10 megawatts waste-to-energy plant to be built in Kibera slums in Nairobi, undertaken by Asticom Kenya, with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) has given its assessment and is inviting members of the public to comment on its plans.

A unique aspect of the plant is that it will use recycled materials for its set up. “[It will] use at least 5%-10% recycled, refurbished or salvaged materials to reduce the use of raw materials and divert material from landfills,” part of the assessment report said.

It will ensure that construction materials left over at the end of construction will be used in other projects rather than being disposed of.

Asticom received funding totalling USD 1 Mn from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a multi-donor trust fund managed by African Development Bank

“The project is based on three specific forms of biomass; municipal solid waste, agricultural crop residues and livestock waste or manure,” Asticom said.

The company aims to expand to other regions in the country where there is a huge issue of solid waste including Ngong and Kitengela towns (generating 700 tons/day of waste) from Kajiado County; Kibera and Kawangware (~600 tons/day) from Nairobi County, and Mombasa town (~2700 tons/day).

“The rural regions will include the mainly agricultural western regions, comprising the sugarcane growing counties of Homabay, Kisumu, Kakamega and Bungoma (4000-7000 tons/day of sugar cane waste),” the company stated.

There are reports that the Nairobi County Government plans to put up a USD 197 Mn incinerator to decrease the garbage landfills in Dandora. It is expected to generate 40MW in electricity to the national grid.

Joyce Kariuki, the Communications Lead at Proctor and Gamble East Africa opined that “Solid waste disposal and management are slowly becoming a developing nation’s problem and adaptive leadership seems a good way out of it.”

She said that out of the 2200 tones solid waste generated daily, about 30 to 40 per cent is not collected. Moreover, less than 50 per cent of the population is served.

More needs to be done and incinerators are not the ultimate solution for the waste problem bedevilling citizens, she added.

The public has 30 days to comment on the impact assessment “to assist the Authority in the decision-making process of the plan,” Mambo B. Mambo, Ag. Director-General, NEMA said.

Feature Image Courtesy: JiveNaija